O's pregame notes on Mancini, Kremer and more

As the Orioles get set to play the second game of their series at Texas tonight, manager Brandon Hyde has dropped Trey Mancini to fifth in the batting order for the first time this year.

Mancini, batting .151/.220/.358/.579 in 59 plate appearances, went 0-for-4 in last night's 5-2 win with four strikeouts. He is 1-for-16 (.063) his last five games and 4-for-33 (.121) his last nine.

And while he does lead the club with three homers and ranks second with 10 RBIs, the skipper will drop him down in the lineup tonight.

"Yeah, just trying to help Trey out," Hyde said this afternoon from Globe Life Field. "He's just putting so much pressure on himself and he's just trying so hard. I want him to relax as much as possible, knowing that the guy hasn't played in a year. It's not easy to play in the big leagues anyway.

"You know, I think he thinks he's going to pick up where he left off. We have total confidence that he's going to be the player that he is. It just might take a little time. He hasn't seen major league pitching in over a year."

So after batting second 10 times and fourth on three occasions, he'll bat fifth for the first time in 2021 tonight as the DH with Ryan Mountcastle playing at first.

"Just want him to relax and have at-bats and not try to carry us in any way or think he's got to be a main contributor," Hyde said. "Just want him to be himself and get back in the swing of things a little bit."

Mancini did come up big on defense last night. He made a diving stop near the bag at first base in the ninth to record an out with a man on first and one out.

"He's been solid," Hyde said of Mancini's defense at first. "But the same thing. Hasn't played in a year. The speed of the game is not easy to pick up where he left off when you have this much of a layoff. On top of that, he hasn't played a lot of first base in his big league career the last few years."

While Hyde would love to get Mancini going on offense tonight, he'd like to see right-hander Dean Kremer (0-1, 10.50 ERA) get locked in on the mound. He's lasted just three innings twice and has given up nine hits and seven runs in six innings with 2.333 WHIP.

After his last start, Kremer said he should have thrown his curveball more. He used that pitch 27 percent last season and has thrown it 17 percent to begin this year.

Hyde agrees he should throw that pitch more tonight.

"Especially with tonight's lineup - I think there are six lefties he'll be facing - the curveball is going to have to come into play. I think what happens with guys with cutters, they can rely on it almost too much. And Dean's got such a good curveball that, you know he's got a low- to mid-90s fastball and a curveball that comes out of the same lane. And he has shown flashes of having a really good one. I just want him to trust it more. Because I think it's a plus pitch.

"And especially with left-hander hitters to be able to drop it underneath the strike zone, or in for a strike early in the count. It's going to be huge for him. You know he got hurt that last start with the cutter a little bit. He got a little too cutter-happy. Instead of relying more on his four-seam and the curveball. Just like to see him do that today."

Orioles outfielder Austin Hays, out since the third game of the year, will likely not make it back for the final game of this series on Sunday. But he is expected to be activated from the injured list for the series opener Tuesday at Miami. Hays has been out with a right hamstring strain.

"With Austin, I think it's going to be more likely Tuesday," Hyde said. "He's progressed very well. Played the last couple of days and has checked all the boxes from a health standpoint. So, more than likely we will see him on Tuesday."

In the first three games Hays went 2-for-10 (.200) with two RBIs.